The present invention is directed to electrical receptacle units, and in particular electrical receptacle units adapted to be mounted proximate to a work area.
Working areas, including desktop surfaces, tables and the like, require electrical power sources to run numerous items of equipment, as for example, computers, recorders, fax equipment, telephone equipment, and lighting equipment. It is therefore important to provide a plurality of electrical receptacles into which equipment may be plugged, proximate to a work surface so as to provide immediate and ready access to electrical receptacles for plugging and unplugging electrical equipment. Moreover, it is desirable to avoid the running of multiple electric cords from a work surface to a wall outlet as a result of the inherent danger in electrical cords running along a floor surface of a work area, and for aesthetic purposes to avoid an unsightly work area cluttered by a multiplicity of electrical cords extending over the work surface.
Equipment currently used in the workplace, as for example, computer equipment, facsimile equipment, and voice mail equipment, is sensitive to surges in line current and to electrical interferences. It is therefore desirable to provide a surge suppressor filter disposed between line current and electrical receptacles coupled to line current contained within a desktop receptacle unit. It is further desirable to provide an isolated compartment within the desktop unit for accommodating wires or other connectors coupled to sensitive electrical equipment, as for example, computer equipment, to provide shielding for these wires or other electrical connectors.
In today's workplace, it is common to rearrange the workspace and work areas of employees on a reasonably regular basis. It is therefore desirable to provide an electrical receptacle unit which is removably mounted to a work surface so as to facilitate any desired rearrangement or repositioning of the work area.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an electrical receptacle unit mounted to a work area, as for example, a desktop or a table top, which has a cord coupled to line power, and which provides a plurality of electrical receptacles for plugging and unplugging electrical equipment used in the work area. The unit includes a housing which is removably mounted to the work surface so as to facilitate any desired rearrangement or repositioning of the work area. In further aspects of the invention, the desktop mounted unit includes a housing having a surge suppressor filter therein disposed between the source of line power delivered to the housing and the plurality of electrical receptacles provided in the housing. In a further aspect of the invention, the housing defines an isolated compartment which is shielded from the remaining portions of the housing so as to prevent electrical interference generated in the other portions of the housing from interfering with electrical wires or other connectors accommodated within the isolated compartment which are provided to couple line power to sensitive electrical equipment, such as computer equipment.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the further discussion of the invention herein.